
COLLATERAL FREEDOM
RSF unblocks 34 censored websites in 18 countries.
How does RSF outsmart censorship?
Operation #CollateralFreedom circumvents Internet censorship by means of a strategy in which “mirrors” or duplicates of the censored websites are created on international servers belonging to the world’s Internet giants. If a country wants to block access to the mirrors, it must also deprive itself of access to all the sites and services hosted on these servers, which would inflict significant “collateral damage” on its own economy.
Websites unblocked by RSF
Focus on Censorship
- Azerbaijan
- Bahrain
- Belarus
- Burundi
- Cambodia
- China
- Djibouti
- Egypt
- Iran
- Myanmar
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Saudi Arabia
- Tajikistan
- Thailand
- Turkmenistan
- United Arab Emirates
- Vietnam
Azerbaijan
President Ilham Aliyev has done everything possible to eliminate media pluralism since 2014 and all leading independent news websites are blocked. When they are not jailed, critical journalists and bloggers are harassed, pressured or offered bribes. Even those who have fled the country continue to be persecuted. The coronavirus pandemic has amplified the harassment of those who try to describe the real situation. Journalists are pressured to use only the official information provided by a special Covid-19 unit, and are liable to be arrested and charged with “lockdown violations.” Under amendments to the law on information adopted in March 2020, online media owners can be prosecuted for “inaccurate” or “dangerous” content. And the prosecutor-general’s office has warned social media users that the authorities will investigate all reports of “fake news” and will “punish offenders.”